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|[pic] | State of South Carolina | Solicitation Number: | 5400004521 |
| | |Date Issued: |10/15/2012 |
| |Request for Proposal |Procurement Officer: |Ron Conner |
| |Amendment 1 |Phone: |803-896-0284 |
| | |E-Mail Address: |Ron.Conner@itmo. |
|DESCRIPTION: STC - Electronic Transcript Services | |
|USING GOVERNMENTAL UNIT: Statewide Term Contract | |
|The Term "Offer" Means Your "Bid" or "Proposal". Unless submitted on-line, your offer must be submitted in a sealed package. Solicitation |
|Number & Opening Date must appear on package exterior. See "Submitting Your Offer" provision. |
| SUBMIT YOUR OFFER ON-LINE AT THE FOLLOWING URL: |
|SUBMIT OFFER BY (Opening Date/Time): 11/1/2012 14:30:00 est. (See "Deadline For Submission Of Offer" provision) |
|QUESTIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY: 10/10/2012 12:00:00 est. (See "Questions From Offerors" provision) |
|NUMBER OF COPIES TO BE SUBMITTED: PLEASE SEE PAGE 3 |
| CONFERENCE TYPE: Not Applicable | LOCATION: Not Applicable |
| DATE & TIME: | |
| | |
|(As appropriate, see "Conferences - Pre-Bid/Proposal" & "Site Visit" provisions) | |
| AWARD & AMENDMENTS |Award will be posted on 12/19/2012. The award, this solicitation, any amendments, and any related notices will be posted |
| |at the following web address: |
|Unless submitted on-line, you must submit a signed copy of this form with Your Offer. By submitting a bid or proposal, You agree to be bound by the|
|terms of the Solicitation. You agree to hold Your Offer open for a minimum of thirty (30) calendar days after the Opening |
|Date. (See "Signing Your Offer" and "Electronic Signature" provisions.) |
| NAME OF OFFEROR |Any award issued will be issued to, and the contract will be formed with,|
| |the entity identified as the Offeror. The entity named as the offeror |
| |must be a single and distinct legal entity. Do not use the name of a |
|(full legal name of business submitting the offer) |branch office or a division of a larger entity if the branch or division |
| |is not a separate legal entity, i.e., a separate corporation, |
| |partnership, sole proprietorship, etc. |
| AUTHORIZED SIGNATURE |TAXPAYER IDENTIFICATION NO. |
| | |
|(Person must be authorized to submit binding offer to contract on behalf |(See "Taxpayer Identification Number" provision) |
|of Offeror.) | |
| TITLE | STATE VENDOR NO. |
| | |
|(business title of person signing above) |(Register to Obtain S.C. Vendor No. at procurement. ) |
| PRINTED NAME | DATE SIGNED | STATE OF INCORPORATION |
| | | |
|(printed name of person signing above) | |(If you are a corporation, identify the state of incorporation.) |
| OFFEROR'S TYPE OF ENTITY: (Check one) (See "Signing Your Offer" provision.) |
| |
| ___ Sole Proprietorship ___ Partnership ___ Other_____________________________ |
| |
| ___ Corporate entity (not tax-exempt) ___ Corporation (tax-exempt) ___ Government entity (federal, state, or local) |
COVER PAGE (NOV. 2007)
AMENDMENTS TO SOLICITATION (JANUARY 2006): (a) The Solicitation may be amended at any time prior to opening. All actual and prospective Offerors should monitor the following web site for the issuance of Amendments: procurement. . (b) Offerors shall acknowledge receipt of any amendment to this solicitation (1) by signing and returning the amendment, (2) by identifying the amendment number and date in the space provided for this purpose on Page Two, (3) by letter, or (4) by submitting a bid that indicates in some way that the bidder received the amendment. (c) If this solicitation is amended, then all terms and conditions which are not modified remain unchanged.
The State amends the solicitation to include the following clause:
FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT (FERPA): (a) “Covered Data and Information” (“CDI”) means student education record information, in any form including electronic or paper, supplied by any Using Governmental Unit or its students, to the Contractor. (b) Contractor agrees to abide by the limitations on re-disclosure of CDI and personally identifiable information from education records set forth in The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. §1232g, and with the terms set forth below. Contractor agrees to hold CDI in strict confidence. Contractor shall not use or disclose CDI except as permitted or required by the agreement, as required by law, or as otherwise authorized in writing by the applicable Using Governmental Unit. Contractor agrees not to use CDI for any purpose other than the purpose for which the disclosure was made. (c) Upon termination, cancellation, expiration or other conclusion of the Agreement, Contractor shall return all CDI to the applicable Using Governmental Unit or, if return is not feasible, destroy any and all CDI. If the Contractor destroys the information, the Contractor shall provide the applicable Using Governmental Unit with a certificate confirming the date of destruction of the data. (d) If a Using Governmental Unit reasonably determines in good faith that Contractor has materially breached any of its obligations under this provision, then the applicable Using Governmental Unit may, in its sole discretion, (1) require Contractor to submit to a plan of monitoring and reporting, (2) provide Contractor with a fifteen (15) day period to cure the breach, or (3) terminate the Agreement immediately if cure is not possible. Before exercising any of these options, the Using Governmental Unit shall provide written notice to Contractor describing the violation and the action it intends to take. (e) Contractor shall develop, implement, maintain and use appropriate administrative, technical and physical security measures to preserve the confidentiality, integrity and availability of all electronically maintained or transmitted CDI received from, or on behalf of, any Using Governmental Unit or its students. Contractor shall impose these measures on all subcontractors used by Contractor. (f) Contractor shall, within one (1) day of discovery, report to the applicable Using Governmental Unit any use or disclosure of CDI not authorized by the Agreement. Contractor’s report shall identify: (1) the nature of the unauthorized use or disclosure, (2) the CDI used or disclosed, (3) the identity of the individual or entity that received the unauthorized disclosure, (4) the action(s) that Contractor has taken or shall take to mitigate any potentially negative effects of the unauthorized use or disclosure, and (5) the corrective action(s) Contractor has taken or shall take to prevent future similar unauthorized uses or disclosures. Contractor shall provide any additional information in connection with the unauthorized disclosure reasonably requested by the Using Governmental Unit. (g) The Federal Trade Commission has promulgated regulations collectively known as the “Red Flags Rule” with which the Using Governmental Unit must comply. See 16 CFR 681. Under the Red Flags Rule, if the Contractor is engaged in activities covered by the Rule (e.g., opening or managing accounts, providing customer service, collecting debts, etc.), then the Institution must ensure that Contractor either complies with the Using Governmental Unit’s identity theft program or that Contractor has its own policies and procedures in place to detect and respond to identity theft Red Flags. If the Contractor is engaged in activities covered by the Red Flags Rule, then the Contractor represents and warrants that it has reasonable policies and procedures in place to detect, prevent and mitigate identity theft, and Contractor shall review and comply with all relevant portions of the applicable Using Governmental Unit identity theft policy, if any, as well as any applicable Using Governmental Unit identity theft plan. Contractor shall report any Red Flags that it detects in connection with the Agreement to the applicable Using Governmental Unit.
The State’s response to questions is in red.
Question: Is there an estimate of the number of colleges/universities that would be using this system?
Response: We have 33 public and independent institutions and approximately 20+ private institutions. We estimate 15 – 20 of these institutions will implement the awarded solution.
Question: Is there an estimate of the number of students/alumnus that would be using this system?
Response: We estimate 25,000 to 35,000 students and alumnus will be using the system.
Question: Does the transcript need to be signed by a security certificate that is in the name of the provider, or does the provider need to obtain individual security certificates for each individual college/university?
Response: The provider will need to obtain individual security certificates for each individual college/university that chooses to implement the solution.
Question: Under Section I – Minimal Requirements, F. Institution Customization, 4. The awarded vendor will not charge for configuration option changes. Can you please clarify what you mean by “configuration option changes?”
Response: These are settings that can be administered differently for each institution installation and once enabled and/or selected provide additional functionality or additional information to be captured relative to a process associated with the electronic transcript solution.
Question: Under Section IV Technical Proposal, B. System and Data Security, letter c.) how the proposed solution monitors overall system usage (number of transcripts transmitted per institution, etc.); Is this question geared toward SC CHE reporting or individual institution reporting?
Response: This question relates to an individual institution’s reporting capabilities. It is not a requirement for SC CHE to provide statewide electronic transcript reporting to its management or stakeholders
Question: Under Section IV Technical Proposal, B. System and Data Security, letter d.) how the proposed solution will handle multiple student records requests appearing at a single institution for records from multiple institutions. Can you please clarify this requirement?
Response: We require the vendor solution to provide a full audit trail of every request and/or destination institution with a unique identifier to clearly identify each request? What is the information that is presented to the student and the registrar to distinguish the differences between each request that is delivered to the same institution? Is there a message that appears for the student to tell them they previously requested delivery of their transcript to this institution?
Question: Under Section IV Technical Proposal, B. System and Data Security, letter e.) features built into the system to maintain control by the sending institution of its student records. Can you please clarify this requirement, is this a student or administrator initiated request?
Response: The requests are initiated by the student and the institution is responding to the requests.
Question: Under Section IV Technical Proposal, Section E. 1, d) the software development methodology utilized to support the project. Do you want to know how this would be supported during implementation or when the service is live?
Response: We would like to know the development methodology exercised by the vendor if during the implementation process an institution requests a modification or enhancement to the proposed solution.
Question: Under Section IV Technical Proposal, Section H. 1, b) how an institution is able to select multiple destinations for a single transcript request. Can you please clarify this question? Is the institution making the request or is the student making the request in this scenario.
Response: The student initiated the request and the institution is responding to the request.
Question: Will there be additional vendor presentations? If so, is there a time frame you have scheduled for these?
Response: There will be no additional vendor presentations.
Question: The solution must provide a way to pass authentication to an institution’s student portal and to the institution’s student information system (SIS), if required by the institution (LDAP authentication). Q: Are you asking if there is a way for students or enrolled students that have access to an institution’s portal to authenticate into the proposed solution? Please provide more information.
Response: We are asking if there is a way for currently enrolled students, or alumni who have an established account in an institution’s on-line application, to be authenticated by that application.
Question: All transcripts must be decrypted after the transcript has been retrieved by the intended recipient; Q: Please clarify. What are you trying to solve for?
Response: The electronic transcript file is transformed to an unreadable format (encryption) while the file is in-transit. Once the file is received by the intended recipient then the transmitted file is transformed again into a readable format (decrypted) so the data can be processed.
Question: Branding must include the institution’s logo on all primary screens for the student request process as well as the transcript delivery process. Q: The requirement states logo must be present throughout delivery process. Are you referring to the electronic transcript or the online ordering process or both?
Response: The institution’s logo (when provided by an institution) must be present on the ordering process and delivery process screens as well as on the transcript.
Question: Each Institution and the awardee will define their acceptance criteria prior to the commencement of the implemented solution. Q: Do you mean all institutions will be defining what components of the solution are needed on an institution by institution basis?
Response: Yes, each institution will have the opportunity to select the portions of the proposed solution they wish to implement.
Question: Registrar’s office accessing and processing request resends or internal request at no cost; Q: Please provide clarification. What issue or requirement are you solving for?
Response: All non-delivered transcript requests must be resent at no charge to the requester or the institution.
Question: How the proposed solution will handle multiple student records requests appearing at a single institution for records from multiple institutions; Q: Please provide clarification. What issue or requirement are you solving for?
Response: We require the vendor solution provide a full audit trail of every request and/or destination institution with a unique identifier to clearly identify each request?
Question: How the proposed solution responds when transaction limits or file limitations are reached. The proposal will explain the type of notification that is sent to the sending or receiving institution to alert them that certain limitations have been reached in the system; Q: Please provide clarification., What issue or requirement are you solving for?
Response: The vendor needs to describe the notification process that will take place to inform an institution of any space or file limitations and will provide instructions to correct the problems.
Question: Providing a notice of liability for student personally identifiable information (PII) and FERPA when additional documents are requested; Q: Please provide clarification. What issue or requirement are you solving for?
Response: When the student submits additional documents to be sent along with the transcript, a message is required that warns the student about the need to protect PII and states the institution is not liable for any damages associated with documents that are not FERPA compliant.
Question: How an institution selects multiple final destinations for one transcript request; Q: Please provide clarification. What issue or requirement are you solving for?
Response: We are asking the vendor to describe how a student may request their transcript be sent to multiple destinations.
Question: How an administrator at the institution is able to receive transcripts individually or in batch. Q: Please provide clarification. What issue or requirement are you solving for?
Response: We are asking if there is a feature within the vendor solution that allows an institution to receive and process transcripts in a group for a selected period of time rather than receiving and processing each transcript one-at-a-time.
Question: How entities other than institutions such as Employers, State Agencies, and Educational Organizations can be selected as final destinations for a transcript request and whether or not this capability is at the discretion of the institution; Q Please provide clarification. What issue or requirement are you trying to solve for?
Response: We are asking if the vendor solution at the request of the student, allows/provides as a mechanism for an institution to deliver a transcript to entities other than institutions such as employers, other state agencies or other educational organizations.
Question: How an institution is able to select multiple destinations for a single transcript request; Q: Please provide clarification. What issue or requirement are you solving for?
Response: We are asking the vendor to describe how a student may request their transcript be sent to multiple destinations.
Question: Whether the institution is allowed to select those document types from a drop-down box and whether or not a notice of liability for student personally identifiable information (PII) and FERPA will be posted on the screen where additional documents are requested; Q: Please provide clarification. What issue or requirement are you solving for?
Response: When the student submits additional documents to be sent along with the transcript, a message is required that warns the student about the need to protect PII and states the institution is not liable for any damages associated with documents that are not FERPA compliant.
Question: Whether the proposed solution allows retrieval of a completed transcript for viewing at a later date and for easier processing the next time the student submits a request; Q: Please provide clarification. What issue or requirement are you solving for?
Response: We are asking the vendor to identify the features associated with the proposed solution that help to expedite the student request process the next time the student requests a transcript.
Question: Flowcharts and explanations for each process associated with the electronic transcript solution (set-up, request, payment, receiving, delivery, payment reconciliation, reporting and notification and monitoring. Q: Are you looking for a flow chart of the overall process? With regards to the delivery process, can you elaborate on what you would like to see in the form of a flow chart?
Response: For set-up we expect documentation that tells of all the configuration options available to an institution with an explanation of what it takes to complete initial configuration of the solution and who manages setting up and changing configuration options. For all of the additional processes listed in M1a, we expect a flow chart of the entire transcript request and delivery process that shows critical decision points where the process my require additional or alternate steps
Question: Regarding the provision to disclose offshore contracting, is this limited to the proposed solution or does the vendor need to list all offshore business independent of what is being proposed?
Response: The Offeror must disclose all offshore contracting as it relates to the proposed solution. Disclosure must include, if applicable, the hosting environment that supports the proposed solution, user support (help desk or call center) or user training relative to the proposed solution, continued development of the proposed solution and on-going maintenance for the proposed solution
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